Remembering Oregon

The last time I was in Oregon was in December of 2006, just a few months after I began fulltiming. 
I was volunteering  at the Bandon Fish Hatchery, right on the coast.
This was my site at the hatchery.  You might notice the moped.  That was back in the days before I had a toad.  It was mighty chilly driving that moped to town for groceries, I might add.
One of my main jobs was sorting though salmon eggs…one at a time with a tweezers.
Hundreds of thousands of salmon eggs.  What a learning experience that was!
When I wasn’t doing eggs, I was repairing fishing nets.
Salmon was what this hatchery was all about!  I really  enjoyed my time there, and I learned a  lot about fish culture.

Shortly, I’ll be headed to Oregon again, but I don’t think I’ll be seeing any salmon eggs this time.  Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is located no where near the coast, and is in the high desert region of southeastern Oregon.  I always get excited about a new location for volunteering, and this assignment is no exception.  Even though it’s a month away, I can’t wait to get there.  :)  What new things will I learn at this “jewel” of refuges?  I’m hoping there won’t be so many flies and mosquitoes as I’m dealing with right now, but who knows?  I’ll just be happy to get back into the volunteering mode again.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

This and that

I headed out this morning to try to find the illusive black capped vireo.  I went to the Russel tract and met Chuck, the biologist, on his way out.  I believe I heard one vireo, but couldn't get a chance to see it.  Chuck couldn't either.  :(  These vireos inhabit very dense shin oak areas, and are hard to see.

More and more wild flowers are beginning to bloom in the hill country.  Maybe on Friday or Sunday I'll be able to take a drive to enjoy the blue bonnets and Indian paint brushes.  You know there are things to enjoy around here besides birds.  :)

If you're in to insects, here's a beetle that scurried across my site yesterday.  Don't know what kind it is.

This butterfly was making a bee line for my hummingbird feeder.

And yes, PetDoc, it is a spicebush swallowtail!

My son, Daniel, called tonight to let me know that he received the electrical plug for my old laptop that I sent to him last week.  I'm glad that he can use it for school, since I didn't know what I was going to do with it.  He did comment that he couldn't believe how slow it was.  I didn't know I was back in the dark ages of laptops until I purchased my new one.  What a difference I've found!  Now it doesn't take me hours to make a blog post.  :)

I think I told you late last week that I emailed a note of complaint to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife service about not receiving any kind of response from the places I had applied to for this summer.  Well, yesterday  morning I received a call from one of the wildlife areas while I was on top of one of the hills looking for the golden cheeked warbler.  I spoke with the volunteer coordinator and he certainly didn't  paint a very pretty picture of his facility.  So, I passed on that assignment....two hours from groceries and shopping, horrible bugs all summer, and they're not sure what to do with volunteers other than put them in the office.  Not my cup of tea by a long shot!  I guess my email had some effect, but I haven't heard from the other place yet.  I sent in my application to Malheur NWR last Friday, so maybe I'll hear from them within the next two weeks.

I had to turn on the AC today, as temps were into the eighties and my rig sits in full sun all day.  I'm not complaining though, I love the warmer temperatures.

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy

Hermetically sealed products...UGH!

One of those little challenges in life (for me) is getting a new product, that you have just purchased, out of the hermetically sealed packaging materials.  Do any of you struggle with this?  I swear, sometimes the most difficult part of getting something into your hands to use is getting it out of the package!  Case in point....today I purchased a new ....

Remington "smooth & silky" cordless ladies' shaver.  A couple of weeks ago, I posted that my 22 year old electric shaver had bit the dust, and one of my readers asked me to report on my new shaver once I got one.  So, here's the report.  It took me a good ten minutes using my faithful Cutco scissors to finally extract the product from it's wrapper!  Couldn't they just put it in a box?

Anyway, I gave it a try this evening.  For you ladies out there, they've made great improvements in the leg shaving industry in the last twenty years.  :)  This shaver runs on two AA batteries and can be used wet or dry, which means you can use it in the shower with your legs suds-ed up without getting electrocuted!  I didn't use it in the shower tonight, but can report that it gave a very smooth shave with very little stubble....much better than my old model.  As it turned out, I only had one shaver to choose from at Walmart today, but for the price of $13, I'm pretty happy.  So, for you consumer's report type people, I give it a thumbs up.

I've about given up on hearing from the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department, so today I left a message at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon about volunteering this summer.  I almost fell over when I got a call back within two hours!  Just another reason why I like volunteering at our National Wildlife Refuges.   The volunteer coordinator sent out an application for me today, and I'll return it within the week.  Malheur NWR sounds like a place I could enjoy.  I'll see how it goes.

I was hoping to get some fantastic sunset pictures tonight, but just before sunset a huge cloud bank moved in, and now there's the pitter patter of raindrops on the roof.  I guess we're in for some more precipitation.  I switched out the auxiliary propane tank today, so I'm prepared for whatever weather comes.  :)

Thanks for stopping by....talk to you later,  Judy